This is an eclectic blog in which I discuss whatever in the world happens to be on my mind today.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May 2017

And just like that, here we are in the "lusty month of May" already. It's the beginning of true summer for us here in zone 9a of Southeast Texas and blooms are busting out all over.

Yesterday was Mother's Day, of course, and hydrangeas are a traditional gift. My very non-traditional daughters decided to go with the flow for once and got me two of these magnificent 'Endless Summer' hydrangeas to anchor each side of one of my garden sitting areas.

This is another hydrangea - the oakleaf variety. The yellow flowers in the background are wedelia.

May is sunflower season, of course.

Lots of sunflowers.

My cup runneth over with sunflowers!

All kinds of sunflowers.

Including sunflowers that are well on their way to being sunflower seeds.

Dahlias, salvia, daylilies, orange milkweed, and Blackfoot daisies

Lantana 'Peaches and Cream.'

'Dallas Red' lantana.

'Lady of Shalott' rose.

'Belinda's Dream.'

'Julia Child.'

'Darcy Bussell.' The big leaves are a split-leaf philodendron.

Pink Knockout roses.

Coreopsis tickseed.

Duranta erecta 'Golden Dewdrop,' just beginning its long bloom cycle.

Yellow milkweed.

Red milkweed.

In the herb garden, the borage is blooming.

And so is the comfrey.

And the pineapple sage.

A few delphinium blossoms still linger.

White mistflower with Painted Lady butterfly.

Almond verbena. Its flowers aren't showy but they smell heavenly.

This is truly blue plumbago but I took the picture in bright sunlight which washes out the blue of the flowers.

Yellow cestrum in full bloom.

Dianthus 'Firewitch' on the left and 'Wood's Blue' aster on the right.

The portulaca in the patio table planter is beginning to bloom.

Bronze esperanza.

Mirabilis jalapa - Marvel of Peru or four o'clock.

Black-eyed Susan beginning to bloom in the wildflower bed.

Blackfoot daisies.

These were in a packet of mixed wildflower seeds and I'm not 100% sure of what they are but I believe they are sneezeweed. Funny name, lovely plant.

18 comments:

Great you have lots of colors, seemingly the height of flowering. We hopefully are nearing the end of our dry season, as the plants are suffering from drought and heat. I didn't know there is a yellow milkweed. I got a few seeds from higher colder elevation, tried if it will grow in the hot lowlands and it did. I have the red adapting nicely, hopefuly those seeds will grow again. However, no danaid butterflies found them yet.

May is certainly the start of our prime season of blooms. We are just entering our drier season here, although spring itself has not been as rainy as in previous years. Soon it will be time to deploy the sprinklers.

I was delighted to get those hydrangeas. They are beautiful. I've never had a lot of luck growing them in the past, but, considering their source, I'll certainly make an extra effort to keep these alive and thriving.

What a fabulous garden! I love your roses. My daughter lives in the Houston area but even though she has been there for a number of years, as a former New Englander, she has never gotten the knack of handling plants in your climate. We visited once when there was a Garden Conservancy Open Days and saw some very beautiful gardens. Amazing houses too.

It can be a challenge to transfer one's gardening skills from one area of the country to another. In many ways, the Houston area is a gardening paradise with its almost year-round growing season - if you can cope with year-round insect and disease pests that thrive in our heat and humidity. The best advice I can give anyone trying to learn to garden here is to go native. Native plants that are adapted to our climate are almost always the best choice.

It's important to mimic the conditions the seeds would find in Nature. In this instance, I loosened the soil and just broadcast (i.e., took them in my hand and tossed) the seeds over the area. Then I went over the area pressing the soil with a rake and watered the bed. After that I basically forgot about them and several weeks later I had a pretty good stand of a diversity of wildflowers.